Oh… The Horror Of It All…

February has just about come and gone and with it another annual Nevermore Film Festival! I’ve always chuckled that I didn’t even find out about this fest until I’d been living down here for several years. If you’ve frequented this site in the past you’ll definitely get the irony. I’ve always been an avid horror movie junkie, I absolutely love the genre (movies, art, books, music, what have you…), so when the Carolina theatre dedicated an entire weekend to horror films I jumped at the chance to experience it!

That was five years ago, and I’ve been going to it ever since.

This year’s line up was pretty exceptional, offering up a ton new independent stuff that sure looked promising, as well as some true classics that you’d be hard pressed not to see on the big screen (most likely for the first time). Unfortunately I couldn’t see everything (time and money we’re an issue, maybe some year) this year, so I settled on two indies that ended up being great for a variety of reasons.

The first one Mel and I took in was a british vampire flick filmed in Romania, called “Strigoi“. It was definitely different and fresh, rooted very much in Romanian culture their mythology. When I read early reviews I was a little leery because almost everyone used the dreaded “quirky” to describe the film. I typically hate films described that way, but when the lights came up and we all shuffled out into the cold, that was exactly what I thought.

With a great blend and balance of jet black comedy, really great acting, a bit of gore, really awesome music and excellent dialogue, it was definitely a winner!

Recommended for sure!

The next night, we took in an independent American film called “Dawning“, which was minimalist horror at it’s best. It tapped into the more cerebral elements of horror that I absolutely love! It didn’t spell everything out and it left a lot to your imagination. The acting was MUCH better than expected (all unknowns) and aside from a few weak points in the film, it was a really well paced, slow burn of a movie that Mel and I really dug! They also had some really killer one-sheets!

You can check them all out below:

That was all we were able to take in schedule-wise this year. 😦

Judging by the turn out of ’09, I was unsure if the festival would even be back this year. But apparently they recouped all of their expenses and made a good bit extra to boot! So we’ll definitely be attending next year!

So if you’re ever in the area in February or you want to travel to see what I keep talking about each year, come and crash at our place, you’re more than welcome!

We’ll be sitting in the dark, right with ya! 😉

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